PPC Management 101: Building a Profit-Making Campaign

According to Gartner’s CMO Spend and Strategy survey, 74% of marketing managers planned to increase or maintain their PPC investment in 2023. 

This is because it is effective for driving traffic, generating leads, and achieving ongoing results for businesses.

Getting the most out of PPC requires good campaign management. 

You could do this yourself but PPC management requires a lot of time. Plus you need to develop the experience and expertise to pull off great campaigns. 

A better option may be to hire a PPC manager—this could be a freelancer or an employee. Or you could hire a PPC management company. 

This article outlines the duties of a PPC manager so you understand what’s required to run successful PPC campaigns. 

What Does PPC Management Entail?

PPC management involves setting up and monitoring PPC advertisements, and reporting on their performance. 

This is usually handled by in-house marketing teams, digital marketing agencies, or freelance specialists. 

This section explains what the role of a PPC campaign manager involves. We’ve based it on a Google Ads campaign as it’s one of the most popular PPC platforms: 

1️⃣ Set your PPC campaign goals

The first task of an in-house PPC manager is to determine what they want their company’s PPC campaigns to achieve. 

This involves understanding the company’s overall business objectives. 

Let’s say you offer a cloud-based streaming service that users can subscribe to for unlimited access to documentaries. You want to increase the number of subscribers from 1,000 to 5,000. 

PPC management doesn’t have to hit this target on its own. You’ll also have other marketing strategies such as SEO tactics and content marketing efforts. 

However, a PPC campaign could, for example, contribute by gaining 1,000 subscriptions over the next three months.

PPC managers are also responsible for setting realistic budgets for their company’s PPC ad spend to yield the desired results. 

This involves balancing aggressive spending for quick results with conservative spending for better ROI. 

Let’s say your PPC manager determines that $5,000 per month will gain 1,000 subscriptions over the next three months. 

At this point, your PPC manager will also identify metrics to measure whether your campaign has been successful. 

They will collect these metrics throughout the campaign and regularly report on progress. This will allow them to adjust the campaign if it is not achieving their goals.

2️⃣ Get your ads account ready

If you don’t already have a Google Ads account, then your PPC manager will need to get one set up.

Within each campaign, you can have multiple ads, which are organized into groups. Each ad group usually targets the same or similar keywords or audiences and may have a similar design or content. 

We explain what each of these elements entails in the next section.Here’s a visual breakdown of how the different elements of your account are structured:

Setting up a Google Ads campaign, excluding content creation, could take anywhere from several hours to a day, depending on the complexity of the campaign. 

A PPC manager would meticulously organize these campaigns into ad groups, ensuring each group targets specific keywords and audiences. 

After setting up the structure, they would fine-tune targeting options such as locations, demographics, and devices to optimize campaign performance.

3️⃣ Create your PPC campaigns

Once the campaign structure has been set up, you can prepare content for each ad group. 

This will include the following tasks:

🔑 Keyword research

When someone types something into a search engine, it is called a “search query”. Keywords allow you to choose which search queries you want your ad to appear for. 

Let’s think back to our example where you’re running a streaming service for documentaries. 

If you’re trying to increase the number of subscribers to your documentary streaming service, you need to understand what potential customers will search for. 

🎨 Ad creation

You need to ensure your ad grabs potential customers’ attention and encourages them to click on it. 

You can do this by making sure you use high-quality copy alongside eye-catching visuals or compelling offers. 

When you write the copy for your ad, place yourself in potential customers’ shoes and ask yourself what might intrigue them. 

For search ads, you won’t have a lot of visual freedom. However, by including relevant keywords in your ad copy, you can improve its relevance and visibility. 

Other types of ads do use video and designs. For these campaigns, make sure everything you use is professionally produced. 

Here’s an example of a PPC ad by a streaming service on YouTube: 

This ad includes an eye-catching video, as well as a modern banner with clear images and easy-to-read text. 

Make sure to create two to three versions of your ads so that you can test them to determine which version performs best. 

🔗 Ad extensions

These are short, hyperlinked phrases that provide users with additional information, ideally prompting them to take action.

For example, if someone searched for “stream documentaries,” they might find this real-life search ad: 

Below the main ad copy, you’ll notice clickable keywords and phrases that lead to specific pages, such as “Top Categories,” “Sign-up Now,” and “Buy a Gift Card.” 

This helps the reader find what they are looking for. 

There are many different kinds of extensions, including:

📞 Call extensions: These redirect users to call the business from the ad itself.

🗺️ Location extensions: These display the business's address and proximity to the user. 

It’s important to note that this approach isn’t limited to search ads. 

In display ads, you can use call-to-action buttons, promotional extensions, or app extensions to provide additional information and encourage user engagement. 

Here’s an example of a display ad with an ad extension that says “Shop now”: 

Similarly, in video ads, you can incorporate ad extensions like interactive cards or end screens to encourage viewers to take action or provide more context about the advertised content.

💰 Bid management

This involves setting how much you are willing to pay for each click. Once you have set this, Google Ads automates an auction for each keyword.

The winning bids are more likely to be shown. 

You can bid manually, which involves setting individual bid amounts for each ad group, or you can use algorithms to automatically adjust bid amounts. 

Setting your bids can be based on predetermined goals, such as maximizing clicks, conversions, or ROAS. 

For example, if you set a target cost per acquisition (CPA) for each conversion, Google will automatically adjust your bids to meet this goal within your available budget.

🛬 Landing pages

This is a page on your website that people are sent to when they click your ad. 

These aren’t created in Google Ads, but they are important parts of your campaigns. You need to have it ready before you launch your campaign.

Landing pages encourage visitors to carry out your campaign’s call-to-action (CTA).

Take a look at this example from documentary streaming service Curiosity Stream.

Here’s why it works:

✔️ Includes a clear CTA to sign up for a subscription

✔️ Lists the service’s benefits

✔️ Links to more information about the content on offer

✔️ A chatbot allows visitors to get in touch

✔️ Includes information on pricing

✔️ It guides visitors through the sign-up process step-by-step

✔️ Has strong branding and professional design

It’s important your PPC manager works with professional copywriters, designers and developers when creating landing pages. 

4️⃣ Monitor, optimize, and report on performance

PPC managers are responsible for overseeing the entire campaign process. 

As soon as a campaign is launched, they need to monitor its performance and continuously adjust it so that it improves. 

If campaigns are left unattended, they may underperform, resulting in wasted ad spend and missed opportunities. 

PPC managers need to check in on their campaigns at least once a day–especially during the initial stages of a new campaign launch. 

Once campaigns end, PPC managers draw up reports that outline their campaigns’ performance. 

This is a long process and your PPC manager should collect information to determine whether your goals were met or not. 

Google Ads has a dashboard that can provide you with this information. 

Here’s what it looks like: 

If we return to our documentary streaming service, it would be important to track conversions and subscriber growth rates. 

The report should include an analysis to determine whether the campaign goals were achieved and supported by the collected data. 

At the end of your report, you can summarize your results, which can be used as a frame of reference for future campaigns. 

Here’s an example of what your report might look like: 

How PPC Management Software Can Help

When it comes to PPC management, you don’t have to do all the work manually. 

There’s software available that you can use for: 

🛠️ Data analysis and budget control: This should give you detailed insights about your campaigns that will help you create reports and manage your budget better. For example, Agency Analytics offers great data analytics tools. 

🛠️ Keyword research: This helps you identify high-performing keywords for your campaigns. For example, Ahrefs provides insights into search volume, competition, and potential performance metrics for each keyword.

🛠️ Campaign efficiency: This helps you automate repetitive tasks, which could save you time and resources. Both Optmyzr and Acquisio automate various PPC management tasks, along with other features such as bid optimization and A/B testing. 

PPC management software can make a huge difference when you’re trying to run multiple campaigns. If your budget allows it, consider making use of these tools. 

Learn more about the best PPC software tools for campaign management. 

What Will PPC Management Cost?

If you decide to use tools, you can expect to pay: 

💳 Agency Analytics: Their “freelancer” plan, which is their entry option, costs $12 per month, but it goes down to $10 per month if you purchase an annual plan. 

💳 Ahrefs: Their most affordable plan starts at $99 per month, which is ideal for small businesses and hobby projects. 

💳 Optmyzr: If you’re billed annually, you will get charged $249 for an ad spend of $10,000 each month. 

However, if you’re managing your PPC campaigns yourself, there are less obvious costs you also need to consider, such as: 

• The cost of learning how it all works: If you’re managing PPC yourself, learning the basics will take at least three weeks. 
• The cost of making mistakes: If you misunderstand how the ad networks work or you execute your campaigns incorrectly, you might end up making a loss. 
• The cost of setting up and monitoring a campaign: You will have to include PPC management into your daily schedule to make sure everything is taken care of. 
• The cost of losing time on your business: You might need to get help running other areas of your business if chunks of your time need to be allocated to PPC management. 

When determining how much time and budget you need to set aside for PPC management, you should keep all of this in mind.